The apparatus of the present invention utilizes vacuum during the process of removing material from skin pores. The use of vacuum per se is known for such purpose. However, prior art so-called comedone extractors often require use by trained and skilled personnel and the processes employed can be time consuming. Extractors for home use also exist, but reliability and/or complexity are problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,416, issued Apr. 29, 1997, discloses a device for cleaning skin pores which incorporates a suction nozzle with several openings. The skin is drawn by a pulsating suction force into the openings and spaced movable jaws are employed which press against the skin and squeeze contaminants from the skin pore so that the pulsed suction can withdraw them. It will be appreciated that such a system requires synchronization between the pulsating suction force and the pulsating compression force of the jaws.
Other devices employing suction devices for cleaning skin are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,982, issued Mar. 22, 1994, U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,971, issued Oct. 6, 1981, U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,329, issued Jan. 8, 1980, and U.S. Pat. No. DES. 322,483, issued Dec. 17, 1991.
Apparatus employing vacuum to extract other types of materials from a human body or objects are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,584, issued Aug. 27, 1996, U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,440, issued Apr. 1, 1980, U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,677, issued Sep. 2, 1997, U.S. Pat. No. 3,896,810, issued Jul. 29, 1975, U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,203, issued Feb. 7, 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 5,5,377,895, issued Jan. 3, 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,668, issued Jan. 25, 1994, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,187,833, issued Feb. 23, 1993.
The design of a mechanical comedone extractor is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. DES. 279,405, issued Jun. 25, 1985.